20 Under 40 - 1995 Profile: Paul J. Ingegneri

PRESSTIME

By Presstime Magazine

First Published: December 1995

If not for melted chocolate, Tucson's dailies might have missed out on some sweet opportunities.

Before Tucson Newspapers Inc. hired Paul Ingegneri, he owned an appliance store with his father. In 1987, to boost profits, they experimented with chocolate manufacturing, a problematic operation in Arizona's desert heat. The failure eventually led them to close the whole operation, and Ingegneri took an ad-sales job with TNI, publisher of The Arizona Daily Star and the Tucson Citizen under a joint operating arrangement.

Under Ingegneri, the company's classified division recorded significant revenue increases in 1993, 1994 "and will do so again in 1995," says Terry Egger, TNI's vice president of advertising, who also places him among the "architects" of TNI's on-line newspaper and Internet-access provider, StarNet.

Ingegneri credits teamwork for last May's successful launch of StarNet, which has netted 3,000 subscribers so far. Similar collaboration, he says, has improved the papers' relationship with a group crucial to classified revenue: local real-estate professionals. The paper offers real-estate agents and brokers packages of print and on-line products while also developing an electronic bulletin-board system to help them transmit copy on line.

A similar program for restaurateurs may soon offer a three-pronged package to reach customers: menu directories in the paper and on line and menus available by fax.

His retail experience helped him establish instant rapport with clients, he says. "A business owner tends to place advertising at the end of a list of things to do. Our jobs as sales executives should be to help our clients focus on their marketing plans."